The Voice of The Valley
by: MalloryBerent
It’s 1969, the magical year, and in the Palo Alto Research Center, known at the time as Xerox PARC, a curious 14-year-old Michael Malone is sitting before the frst terminal that used Ethernet, at that time called the ARPANET. As he played around with the frst terminal, Mr. Malone was unimpressed. Little did he know this was a pivotal moment in history and in his life.
Michael Malone is an author, professor, and journalist who ofers educated insights into the past and trajectory of the Bay Area, particularly focusing on the evolution of Silicon Valley. Mr. Malone’s relationship
with the Valley goes back far as he has lived here most of his life. He has written 30+ books and currently has a podcast called “ Te Silicon Insider” with NBC reporter Scott Budman. In the words of his podcast partner, “He was covering tech here before it was cool, and before billionaires were running things” (Budman).
“He was covering tech here before it was cool, and before billionaires were running things”
Sitting in a well-lit room in the comfort of his own home, Mr. Malone is on Zoom with Mr. Budman recording their latest episode. Tey discuss current hot tech topics and have been doing so for the last four years. Mr. Budman claims this podcast and its audience of listeners has “long passed my highest hopes”. Te idea for “Silicon Insiders” was born over a cup of cofee and then eventually it came to life in a little studio. However, when Covid hit, Mr. Malone and Mr. Budman had to improvise due to the lack of studio access. Before they decided on their current set up, they experimented with other options. For example, they would sit in Malone’s truck and record the show with a cell phone.
Mr. Malone was born in West Germany when his dad was stationed in Munich as an Air Force ofcer. In elementary school they moved to Virginia. His dad later retired and worked for NASA at Ames Research Center and they moved to Mountain View, California. In 8th grade Mr. Malone was in the gifed children’s group Mensa International. Growing up here he lived in the same neighborhood as tech geniuses Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, and Steve Wozniak. Living in this area allowed Malone
to be “marinated in the tech industry”. Growing up in this technology flled area and Mr. Malone’s passion for writing led him to become a business reporter. Mr. Malone has always enjoyed writing. He claims he “writes to live”. For example, in high school he would write short science fction stories to impress girls. Later, he got a job as a business reporter at Mercury News and his beat was Silicon Valley. Tis was around 1978/1979 where this was all new rising technology, specifcally the internet and the fairchild semiconductor. During this time the Valley was growing exponentially due to “the modern semiconductor industry becoming a global force” (Markof ). Although there was so much happening here, there was no one reporting it, except for Mr. Malone. He was the world’s frst daily technology reporter. His connection to Jobs as a child led him to do the frst stories on Apple.
Silicon Valley has grown signifcantly since the late 70s when Mr. Malone was the frst reporter. “Today, Silicon Valley is home to more than 30 multinational companies…85 billionaires live in Silicon Valley as do an estimated 163,000 millionaires” (Morrison). 1996 was when there was a signifcant change in Silicon Valley that led it to be the place it is today. In 1996
Image taken outside of Mr. Malone’s house, which was built in 1862
there was the dotcom bubble in Silicon Valley where there had been around 10,000 companies created here. “Dot-com bubble, period of large, rapid, and ultimately unsustainable increases in the valuation of…“dot-com” companies” (Duignan). Mr. Malone remembers this time clearly as he recalls a memory from attending a San Francisco Giants game here. As he drove on the highway to get to the game, he saw dot com ads everywhere. Tere were fatbed trucks with billboards advertising dot.com companies, there were ships in the lagoon with big billboards mounted on them, and there were planes fying overhead, towing signs. Once he got to the game, the ads did not stop. He recalls the seat in front of him having a dot com ad on the back along with dot com ads on his cup, cupholder, and all the signs around
the stadium. As Mr. Malone was surrounded by these ads he thought to himself, “ Tis is insane. Tis cannot last”. Sure enough, he was correct. Around 3 months afer this Giants game, it all blew up and crashed. Tousands of people lost their jobs and most companies died. “Everything went quiet. All the press went home. Nobody was covering Silicon Valley” (Malone).
Today, Mr. Malone continues to share his knowledge through writing
“Everything went quiet. All the press went home. Nobody was covering Silicon Valley”
books and on his podcast. Currently, he is working on a book about a startup here in the Valley. He also continues to do his weekly podcast episodes with Mr. Budman where they talk about big companies, AI, and everything in between. Even with the uncertainty of AI, Mr. Malone remains optimistic about the Valley’s ability to adapt and thrive. “I mean, what keeps this town alive is entrepreneurship. We have it in the water” (Malone). As he continues to share his insights through writing and his podcast, he contributes to a better understanding of the complexities of Silicon Valley, its evolution, impact, and future.
In conclusion, Michael Malone’s journey from a curious 14-year-old at Xerox PARC to a successful author, professor, and journalist encapsulates the spirit of Silicon Valley itself—driven by curiosity and innovation. Trough his pioneering work in technology journalism, Malone has played a pivotal role in documenting and shaping Silicon Valley
